Abstract

Patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) who are refractory to complete panretinal photocoagulation (PRP) have a high risk of severe vision loss. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of single-dose intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB) after complete PRP in patients with refractory PDR. Patients with retinal neovascularization (NV) secondary to diabetes mellitus and refractory to complete PRP were enrolled in this study. All patients received a single dose of 1.25 mg IVB at 3 months after completing the PRP. Patients underwent complete ophthalmic evaluation and fluorescein angiography (FA) at baseline and 1 month after injection. The main outcome measure was a reduction in the areas of leakage (mm2) on FA. All patients were evaluated at baseline and on every visit at 1 day, 1 week, and 1 month after the injection. A total of 21 consecutive patients (32 eyes) with PDR completed this study. Thirteen (61.9%) patients were female. The mean ± standard deviation (SD) age was 64.1 ± 5.6 years. Complete and partial response of angiographic leakage of NV was noted in 7 (21.9%) and 18 (56.2%) of 32 eyes after a single IVB injection, respectively. No satisfactory response of retinal NV was observed in 7 eyes (21.9%) at 1 month after the injection. There was a significant difference in age between response groups (partial and complete; 61.9 ± 4.4 years) versus the no-satisfactory response group (67.7 ± 5.9 years) (P = 0.007). No significant ocular or systemic adverse events were observed. A single-dose of IVB could be associated with a satisfactory response of retinal NV, secondary to PDR, in patients who are refractory to complete PRP.